Volunteer Opportunities

The Diabetic Youth Foundations utilizes volunteers both at Bearskin Meadow Camp and during our Year Round Programs. Volunteers are the backbone to our success– their passion, dedication and enthusiasm keep us going all year long. Volunteers do not need to know about diabetes, but they must have a passion and desire to learn about the condition.

Most of our volunteers at Bearskin Meadow Camp, DYF’s residential summer camp program, are health care professionals who dedicate anywhere from one to three weeks at Bearskin Meadow Camp. We have a number of positions available for health care professionals. For each session, we have approximately 10-15 health care professionals at BMC, including nursing students, medical students, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, residents, interns, general practitioners, pediatric fellows, pediatric endocrinologists, registered dietitians and certified diabetes educators. Many of our volunteers come from major health centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including University of CA at San Francisco (UCSF), Children’s Hospital of Oakland (CHO) and Kaiser Permanente.

All volunteers are supervised by our year-round Medical Director, Dr. Mary Simon, M.D. who lives and works at Bearskin Meadow Camp all summer long. Dr. Mary Simon is a diabetologist with her own practice in Fresno, California. She also has type 1 diabetes and has worked at Bearskin Meadow Camp for over 20 summers.

Volunteers can earn up to 30 CEUs for 6 days spent at Bearskin Meadow Camp. We also offer the opportunity for volunteers to earn hours that will count towards their Certified Diabetes Educator license. From time to time we have other volunteers who join us for a session or two at Bearskin Meadow Camp who are not health care professionals. These volunteers might include past campers, past camp parents or those who are interested in spending time learning about diabetes. We welcome all sorts of different volunteers at Bearskin Meadow Camp and recognize the huge contributions they make to our programs.

All of our Year-Round Programs are solely staffed by volunteers. We utilize both health care professional volunteers and volunteer counselors and program leaders. We would not be able to run our year-round programs without the dedication of our many volunteers, who come out to the programs to make a difference in the lives of children, teens and families affected by diabetes. Volunteer counselors and program volunteers include working professionals; college students; pre-med students; nursing students; graduating high school seniors; past and current Bearskin Meadow Camp staff; and those interested in learning about and working with people affected by diabetes.